Islamic State like you've never seen them before

An Iraqi sitcom called State of Superstition takes to Islamic State with tongue in cheek in an attempt to disarm the organisation 'with words', as its Director describes.

Transcript

icon-plusicon-minus

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The terrorist group Islamic State is no laughing matter and that's something a group of very brave Iraqis wants to change. The Baghdad-based comedy group thinks that laughing at the Islamic State jihadists and ridiculing their beliefs and behaviour is a potent weapon against them. Dylan Welch reports.

DYLAN WELCH, REPORTER: This is Islamic State as you've never seen it before. It's an Iraqi sitcom called State of Superstition set in a fictional town captured by Islamic State. The show aired its first episode about two weeks ago.

OSAMA ABDUL WAHED, ACTOR (voiceover translation): Islamic State are making all of the beautiful things ugly. They're against love and art and smiling, so we decided to do a show about them because we wanted to deliver humour to every house. We wanted to expose their criminal actions through our actors' smiles.

DYLAN WELCH: The show's make-up artist carefully glues and grooms up to 35 beards a day, including the facial hair of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

ALI AL-QASEM (voiceover translation): By tackling this issue with humour, you can reduce the fear of Islamic State among people, particularly children. We don't like things that scare children. Everyone agrees the most important thing is protecting children. The Islamic State's appearance, the way they look, is terrifying. By presenting them in a comedic way, I think we can help people to overcome that fear.

DYLAN WELCH: Last week, al-Qasem was filming a new scene, the Olympics, Islamic State-style.

ALI AL-QASEM (voiceover translation): We're defending our country with words. We don't know how to carry guns, shoot and kill someone. That's not our job. Our talent is the word, our talent is the idea. Our role is to confront our enemies in a different way. The patriotic artists who love Iraq, they feel defending our nation is worth the risk.

DYLAN WELCH: At the end of each episode, Baghdadi conducts a choir of henchmen and former Saddam Hussein generals. And this bearded cult of death can only end in one way, the show suggests: in an orgy of killing its own.